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Thursday, February 28, 2013

A teacher wanted to know more about Sliderocket. Below you will find complete details of all the features.

Very important aspect of using Sliderocket with students is to use the EDU account. See how...

SlideRocket Player will allow for you to view a presentation from your iPad. Connect your iPad to a digital projector via wireless or wired for all to see. I will have my iPad with the presentation next to the teacher and the computer that they will be using. Great reminder to show all tools in an organized manner.

@teachweb20 sent me Text2Mindmap.com which provides another opportunity to organize thoughts into a web. Her students are using it for writing. I am passing it along to speech teachers and our FACS teachers who have students cook or bake. Every person who uses this can organize their thoughts into clear web images.

The interface is very friendly.

It can be used on the iPad with the Chrome browser which is depicted from the screen shot below.

Monday, February 25, 2013

Friday presented a great opportunity for our school district to send eight teachers and administrators to East Leyden High School. We were provided a day long opportunity to witness the implementation of Chromebooks to all students. Every student has one Chromebook. The school is also a Google Apps For Education District.

We need to go "all in" if we are to accomplish true transformation. All in with whatever device we choose

Pulaski School District is incorporating so much of the transformation of learning with a small amount of devices at this time! Yeah, for teachers!

The best thing I saw was the creation of the "Tech Support Internship" (TSI)

90 high school students helping staff and students with tech support

Students also learn five strands of tech certification

We need to implement this as soon as possible

iPads still need to be utilized! The creation piece of the iPads is above and beyond what a Chromebook can do. My opinion.

Ideal setup: Every student has a Chromebook with iPads available in some fashion for supplemental use. Someone really needs to slam a Chromebook and an iPad together so that everyone gets each operating system and all the functionality. Then the perfect device would exist. Wait it does, kind of!

Thursday, February 21, 2013

When I coach football, we always talk about "It's not what the coaches know, it's what the athletes know."

I think the same holds very true when formulating a plan to integrate technology into a teachers classroom content.

I have really grown to like using flowcharts for deciding when and how the technology is integrated. Creating boxes with concepts and tools along with dates and responsibilities creates a seamless educational environment that the teacher can understand.

This is a flow chart which demonstrates the final creation of a two week unit which provides research for a symposium that the students will conduct. SEE ENTIRE PROBLEM BASED INFORMATION

After discussing the information, the teacher and I determined the best process for the students to create and share.

See the pictures of the end product! (Always take pictures with your iPad!)
The red writing is the expected dates. The green writing is the process and tool. (some computer/some iPad). The Blue initial is the the responsibility. Who is going to complete what!

The last aspect is the use of a Google Form to collect all of the creations from the students. VIEW IT! As a #techcoach I always enjoy showing how to make a form, but actually creating the form. This is an easy way for me to take some work from the teacher while still having them understand the concept. Eventually, I will have them create it.

A great app that will enhance any iMovie production on the iPad is the Intro Designer app. It creates a variety of stunning video clips that can stand alone or be included in an iMovie production. Below is the :11 second intro that teachers may watch when deciding to attend Lunch N' Learn.

Saturday, February 16, 2013

As was mentioned in a previous post this week, one of our science teachers wanted students to create a presentation using the iPads and an app. We used a Google Form to collect all of the final productions.

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Mr. Krause's students created Common Craft videos using the iPad in a different class with different subject matter earlier in the year. Applying that experience, students in his Psychology class were able to discover and master the "History of Psychology" information while creating videos.

Discover how he changed from lecture format to engaging student driven discovery while using the iPads.

We used the gradual release method of teaching. As a techcoach, I provided insight into the use of the tech tool the first two class periods. During the third class period, the teacher demonstrated how the app worked. I was in the classroom for tech support, but wasn't needed.

Mr. Libin explained:"What's holding back entrepreneur in other countries is that they have a much less healthy attitude toward failure. It is seen as a much more permanent thing. One of the great things America does right is we kinda celebrate it. Failure becomes a good story. As long as you haven't failed for something stupid. As long as you've learned something and can demonstrate what you learned. It's kinda celebrated. It's healthy."

If I would have turned it off while he was talking about the design and where the company was going, I wouldn't have heard these powerful words.

So many times in education, whether it be from internal or external forces, we are taught that "failure is not an option." In actuality, Mr. Libin's comments resonate that it is an option, as long as "it's not for something stupid."

Can we as parents and students, educators and administrators, accept this concept of failing? Failing to the point where it drives us to learn something with a greater intent, create a better product, collaborate more openly, think more critically, and be more creative. This will push all of us to move past the failure into success.

Please allow your son/daughter, student, colleague, or yourself some failure. Let's not "beat each other up or ourselves" for failure. Let's not accelerate to "Defcon 5" Let's determine the path that will be needed to get back to success. Let's celebrate it!

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Some of the social studies teachers, Mr. Krause, Mrs. McCumber, and Miss Wilcox wanted a tool to help record 1920 radio shows. Students were to write a script which was derived through research on topics that were presented to the students.

Initially the teachers were going to use Audio Memo to record the radio spots and then upload them to Google Drive. While the free version allows for recording, it does not allow for uploading to Google Drive.

I suggested SoundCloud as another alternative because I felt that the iPad app was quite user friendly, and I liked how all the radio spots were placed into one website type page. Teachers created classroom accounts. Since the free version only allows for 120 minutes of recording, teachers used Gmail accounts to create SoundCloud accounts based on class hours. After the class hour, teachers changed the passwords to the class accounts.

We were also able to meet standard number 1 of our ITLS standards as it was a new digital creation.

Some fantastic radio spots were created:

View the process, read the details and rubric, hear the teachers talk about how great the process was, and consider using it for your next project.

While parents & students waited for our annual 8th grade scheduling open house we decided to show "What's Happening At Pulaski High School?" The movie was created entirely on the iPad with the iPad Camera, Skitch, and iMovie.

While it was a great method for showcasing the great happenings at our school, it was also an opportunity to capture all the events that take place in one hour at Pulaski High School.

While the 2 1/2 hour event took place, parents were able to ask teachers about electives and the differences in courses offered next year. The entire movie was created on the iPad. See how the evening progressed!

Monday, February 4, 2013

A few weeks ago I was approached by our science department for assistance with students making websites. From this we developed a plan to have students create a rough draft of five slides using Google Draw. These five slides transferred information to a five page website.

To develop some consistency with the sites, I created five templates that would have the basics but allow for some creativity.

Five Templates Looked like this

The classroom teacher presented the introductory video which I created in their classroom prior to moving to the library. This allowed for students to enter the library and get right to the sites section of Google.See the video:

The students working looked like this:

Overall, this process was seamless! Students were given a taste of how a website operates without all the frustration.

Friday, February 1, 2013

Audio Memo could be a viable option for recording voice only productions with students. The real benefit of this (paid) app is the integration options with Google Drive.

View the process.

On a side note, because this is a paid app and the free app only allows sharing via email, we have chosen to set up classroom accounts using soundcloud.com. This is a free option which allows for recording & uploading via the iPad app. See/Hear example